USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Norfolk > History of Norfolk, Litchfield County, Connecticut, 1744-1900 > Part 6
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Joshua Whitney, 3 rights, Daniel Lawrence, Jr., 4 rights, Timothy Horsford, 2 1-2 rights.".
"May 7, 1760.
On the same date, "Voted that we will and do sequest the mill-place at the mouth of the Great Pond, the north
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part of the town of Norfolk, and all of the common land adjoining thereto, except suitable highways across said common land; and that no person shall have liberty to lay the same in severalty for himself. And all the rest of suit- able mill streams and places in said Norfolk that is not yet laid we do hereby sequest for our own use said mill places."
At a meeting June 9, 1762, it was "Voted to lay out by pitching 40 acres to each proprietor that holds a whole right. They drew their tickets and commenced to pitch Oc- tober 1st, following, in same manner as before. January 18, 1763, they voted to lay out 20 acres to each right, by pitching; drew their tickets; the pitching to commence September 1st next."
Same date, "Voted, that this propriety will give all our right to a certain piece of land lying near the mouth of the Great Pond toward the north east part of the town- ship of Norfolk, which piece the proprietors have already sequestered for their own use; and they hereby take off that sequestration and give to him or them that will build a good iron works in said Norfolk and have them fit to make iron by the 15th day of January, 1765, and keep them in or- der fit to make iron for the space of fifteen years from the time they are built; to be built upon the same stream that comes out of said Great Pond, between said pond and the town line, where the brook goes out of said Norfolk."
September 7, 1763, "Whereas Timothy Horsford in Octo- ber, 1759, pitched upon a piece of land that the proprietors did sequestrate for their own use,-now the proprietors vote and agree that Jedediah Richards who has bought said pitch of said Horsford, shall for said pitch have liberty to lay out in the common land in Norfolk 40 acres, laying it upon his own cost; said Richards giving a quit-claim of said pitch to the proprietors of Norfolk."
"Whereas, by making the plan of the town there is very great mistakes and errors in many of the surveys of lots and pitches of land, both in measure and in points of com- pass, therefore voted that there shall be survey bills drawn
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of all the surveys wherein mistakes are found, whether in measure or in points of compass, according as they are corrected and made right by the plan and records."
September 19, 1766, "Voted that whereas Capt. Daniel Lawrence, Jr., Thomas Day and Samuel Ransom did all and each of them become bound to the proprietors of Norfolk in the penal sum of £500, lawful money, that they would build a good Iron-works in said Norfolk, somewhere near the Great Pond so called in Norfolk, and to have them fit to make iron by the 15th of January, 1765; now said pro- prietors vote and agree that we will not ask nor sue said Lawrence and others upon said bond for the space of five years after said January 15th, 1765."
No meeting of proprietors was held so far as the record shows, from May, 1768, until September, 1804, when they voted to lay out by pitching 20 acres to each original pro- prietor.
March 12, 1811, Jedediah Richards, Jr., Michael F. Mills and Jonathan Pettibone added to the committee to erect such bounds as are imperfect and finish the survey of such lots and pitches as have never been completed.
September 26, 1825, Michael F. Mills was chosen Clerk. Voted that each proprietor of an original right, have the right to pitch 20 acres of the undivided lands in Norfolk. Nov. 15, 1856, surveyed and laid out to Daniel Hotchkiss of Norfolk from the common and undivided lands in Nor- folk, 55 rods of land on the original right owned by his father, Jonah Hotchkiss.
Henry Norton, County Surveyor. Michael F. Mills, Amos Pettibone,
Props.' Com.
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VI,
THE FIRST TOWN MEETING HELD DEC. 12, 1758- REPORT OF SAME - NAMES OF FIRST TOWN OFFICERS-LONG STRUGGLE OF LOCATING AND BUILDING THE MEETING-HOUSE-DIGNIFYING AND SEATING THE HOUSE-MANNER OF RAISING MONEY AND MATERIAL TO FINISH THE HOUSE.
We can have no doubt but that Messrs. George Palmer and Ezra Knapp gave due notice and warning to all the in- habitants of the town, and that they with one mind and heart assembled upon this important occasion, in accord- ance with the warning for this their first town meeting, which was held at the house of Joshua Whitney. Many subsequent meetings were held at the tavern of Mr. Giles Pettibone, upon the ground, if not indeed in the very same building which recently was the residence of Mrs. Lyman Johnson, and a couple of generations ago the residence of Mr. Luther Butler, opposite the residence of Mr. E. Grove Lawrence. The memorial to the General Assembly in Oc- tober previous, stated that there were forty-three families in the township. The record gives the names of forty-four legal voters present, which were as follows: George Palmer, Moderator; William Barber, Jedediah Richards, John Tur- ner, Ebenezer Knapp, Cornelius Brown, Aaron Aspenwall, Samuel Gaylord, Ezra Knapp, Isaac Pettibone, Edward Strickland, Samuel Cowles, Ebenezer Burr, Elijah Barber, Ebenezer Pardia, Cornelius Doud, Joseph Mills, Gideon Lawrence, Asahel Case, Justis Gaylord, Rufus Lawrence, Eli Pettibone, Samuel Mills, Thomas Knapp, Ebenezer Knapp, Jr., James Hotchkiss, Samuel Ransom, Abraham Knapp, James Benedict, Stephen Baker, Joshua Whitney, Jacob Spaulding, Stephen Comstock, Jedediah Turner, Samuel Strickland, Jabez Rood, Samuel Munross, Luther Barber, Timothy Gaylord, Elisha Richards, Giles Petti-
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bone, Jonathan Strickland, Amariah Plumb, David Turner.
An extended report of this, the first town meeting held in Norfolk, cannot fail to be of interest to many now living and possibly to some who will live after we have all passed away.
The meeting having been called to order, as we may be- lieve by one of the gentlemen who had been designated by the General Assembly to give notice and warning of the meeting, the record, giving first the charter, or the incor- poration of the town, reads as follows :-
"New England, Colony of Connecticut, Litchfield County. Whereas, the Honorable General Assembly of the Colony of Connecticut aforesaid, did at their session held at New Haven upon the second Thursday of October, A.D. 1758, enact, decree and declare that the township of Norfolk should be incorporated, and did incorporate said township of Norfolk and ordered and decreed that Mr. George Palmer and Mr. Ezra Knap should warn all the inhabitants of said Norfolk to meet at some suitable place in said Norfolk on the second Tuesday of December, 1758, and said Palmer and Knap made return that they gave notice to all the inhabi- tants to meet at the house of Joshua Whitney in said Nor- folk on said second Tuesday of December at nine of ye clock, and the inhabitants being met accordingly to per- form the above business; and those who met are as follows: (names are given above.) Then we proceeded to chuse Mr. George Palmer Moderator of said meeting. Then we pro- ceeded to chuse a Town Clerk, and for our Town Clerk did chuse Joshua Whitney.
"Then we proceeded to the choice of selectmen; and for the first selectman did chuse Mr. George Palmer, and for ye second selectman did chuse Mr. Ezra Knap, and for our third selectman did chuse Mr. Asahel Case.
"Voted and did chuse Mr. Ebenezer Burr Treasurer for town of Norfolk.
"Voted and did chuse Eli Pettibone for first Constable. And did chuse Samuel Mills for second Constable.
"Voted and did chuse Gideon Lawrence, Cornelius Doud,
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HISTORY OF NORFOLK.
Samuel Cowles, James Benedict, Giles Pettibone and Eben- ezer Knap surveyors of highways.
"Voted and said town did chuse Joseph Mills, Giles Petti- bone and Thomas Knap to be listers for said town for year insuing.
"Also town did chuse Mr. John Turner, Leather Sealer, for said town for said year insuing.
"Also said town did chuse Jedediah Richards and Eben- ezer Burr grand jurymen.
"Also did chuse Isaac Pettibone and Jedediah Turner Tythingmen.
"Also did chuse Gideon Lawrence, Samuel Munross and Isaac Pettibone, fence viewers.
"James Hotchkiss to be sealer of weights and measures. "Samuel Munross to be key-keeper.
"Eli Pettibone to be collector of rates.
"Also the Selectmen was chosen rate makers."
The election of their town officers seems to have been about all the business transacted at this first town-meeting. Upon the same day a meeting was warned, "to meet at ye house of Giles Pettibone in said Norfolk on ye 20th day of December instant at nine of ye clock forenoon."
The only business transacted at this second meeting that seems to be of interest was:
"John Turner was chosen moderator.
"Voted that we will proceed to procure preaching in this town and we do agree to have the Gospel preacht in this town, and we do appoint Mess. Jedediah Richards, Ezra Knap, Samuel Gaylord, Joseph Mills and Ebenezer Burr to be a Committee to procure preaching in said Norfolk as soon as may be."
At the third meeting, "held at the house of Giles Petti- bone at 12 of ye clock on the 8th day of January, 1759," Mr. Ebenezer Knap was chosen moderator; it was "Voted, that this town will continue Mr. Joseph Peck to preach longer in this town.
"Voted, that this town of Norfolk will proceed to build a meeting house in said Norfolk for the worship of God.
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The same vote was voted by more than two-thirds of the lawful voters present.
"Voted, That we will apply to the County Court to be held at Litchfield ye third Tuesday of January current, that said County Court would send a committee of three men to prefix a place for a meeting house in said Norfolk and set the stake; and Joshua Whitney, Esq., be appointed agent to go to said Court to request of said Court the above business.
"Voted, That Isaac Petibone and Ebenezer Burr be a com- mittee to lease the school lot, being the 6th lot in 1st di- vision, to Cornelius Doud; and same committee to see that 42 shillings be laid out in clearing said school lot."
At a meeting held May 2nd, 1759, it was "Voted to apply to the General Assembly to grant a tax on the land in Nor- folk, the money to be appropriated to pay for preaching the Gospel, for two years."
The matter of first importance to those earliest settlers of this town, the lineal ancestors of some now living here, evidently was, to procure the preaching of the gospel, and to build a meeting-house as a place suitable for the same. This purpose was perfectly natural, if we but remember that they were the direct lineal descendants, only two or three generations removed, of those men and women who left their home and native land for the express purpose of making a home "where they might worship God accord- ing to the dictates of their own consciences," and to be be- yond the reach of that arbitrary power which forbade them "to assemble for worship in any place or in any form other than according to the prescribed rubric." Unquestionably they were all hard at work, felling the forests, clearing and subduing this cold, hard, rocky land, that they might be able to raise and procure food and clothing necessary for themselves and their families; but their one purpose was evidently at all times uppermost in their minds.
Accordingly, at a town meeting duly warned and as- sembled at the house of Giles Pettibone on September 18, 1759, it was "Voted, that we judge it necessary to build a
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HISTORY OF NORFOLK.
meeting house in said Norfolk, and that we will proceed to build a meeting-house, and have agreed on the place, and do agree that the place shall be at the east end of the Seventh Lott, in First Division, first going over; and that on the hill where Mr. Samuel Munross formerly laid up sundry loggs in order for a barn place. Joshua Whitney was appointed agent to request the County Court to order that that may be the place, and said town be ordered to build their meeting-house at that place for divine worship." It was further "Voted, that we will apply to the General Assembly to be held at New Haven the second Thursday of October next, to grant a tax of two pence per acre yearly, the same to be appropriated for the use of the town to build a meeting-house and to pay for the preaching of the Gospel, and the tax to be continued four years." At this meeting it was further "Voted, that near the place where Samuel Munross built his barn, between his house and Ebenezer Burr, the selectmen build a pound." This was at the south end of the green.
That the question where shall we build our meeting- house, was one that interested all the inhabitants of the town and agitated their minds and caused something of a struggle and a contest, may be readily inferred from the town records, and that idea is confirmed by family tradi- tion.
It is an easily established fact that, in those early days, many if not most of the stores and other business places, such as they were, were located upon Beech Flats, having their centre near where later, the Bigelow tavern was lo- cated, now the residence of George R. Bigelow. A Mr. Dickinson is said to have kept one of the first stores in the town near that place, on the ground of the present residence of Dr. Peaselee. As late as 1792 when Mr. Joseph Battell settled in the town, his business was commenced and continued for a number of years on the site of the old Humphrey place on Beech Flats, the present residence of Mrs. C. J. Cole. That there was a desire felt and an effort made by a considerable number to locate the meet-
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ing-house upon Beech Flats cannot be doubted. The house of Giles Pettibone, located as stated above, seems to have been considered by many as in a central location, as most of the town meetings were held in that house until the meet- ing-house was commenced.
At a town meeting held October 8, 1759, it was "Voted, that Asahel Case, Ezra Knap and Abel Phelps be a com- mittee to run lines in order to find the centre of the town, to lay the true state of the town before the committee ap- pointed by the Court last September to place the stake for the meeting-house. (This committee ascertained that the geographical centre of the town was near the residence of Deacon Abraham Hall, 1-4 mile southeast of E. J. Tres- cott's, formerly Charles H. Mills' residence.) And we do agree that John Turner, Ebenezer Knapp, Samuel Cowles, Gideon Lawrence and Isaac Pettibone be a committee to call in said committee and weight on said committee, and lay the state of the town before said committee that the true place for said meeting-house may be apprised, and the last Committee be appointed to call in said county com- mittee on Wednesday next to preform the above business." For some reason the committees failed on the day desig- nated to find and fix "the true place," as at the annual meet- ing on the 2nd Monday of December, 1759, it was, "voted, that John Turner be agent to go to the county court to be held at Litchfield the 3d Tuesday of January next, to re- quest said court to establish the place for ye meeting-house in Norfolk."
At the meeting December 14, 1759, it was "Voted, that said town will build a meeting-house of forty feet wide and fifty feet long, a suitable height for gallering." At the same meeting it was "voted that Abel Phelps, Isaac Holt, Sam- uel Gaylord, Isaac Pettibone and Samuel Mills be a com- mittee to take care to build the meeting-house."
During the winter of 1759-60 the timber for the frame of the meeting-house was cut and drawn near the place where the house was at last located.
At a town meeting held June 3, 1760, at the house of Abel Phelps, it is recorded:
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HISTORY OF NORFOLK.
"Whereas, the town of Norfolk have bought a piece of land convenient to set a meeting-house on, about fifteen rods westward from the stake set by the Committee ap- pointed by the Court; voted, that the meeting-house shall be set up at the place where the timber now lyeth, which is about fifteen rods westward from the stake aforesaid; but three men in the negative. Voted, to choose an agent to go to the court and pray that the place for setting the meeting-house may be affixed agreeable to the foregoing vote."
The stake set by the court was evidently not far from the site of the present parsonage, as the present meeting-house was built in 1813 upon the same site as the first house.
By the 1st of June of that year the great timbers for the meeting-house had been hewed and framed, and the day fixed upon for the raising was at hand. At the town meeting June 3d a committee was named "to provide victals and drink for the hands that raise the meeting-house," and we can readily imagine that the men from all parts of the town assembled to assist in "the raising," coming together for that purpose with genuine satisfaction and enthusiasm. It is somewhere stated that after the frame of the meeting- house was raised, "the men all sat on the sills, sung a Psalm, and had a prayer." On June 24th of that year, at a town meeting held at the house of Abel Phelps and "ad- journed to the meeting-house frame," it was there "voted that the committee shall go on to cover the same as soon as may be conveniently."
From that time they seem to have rested from their pub- lic labors for a year or more, as the next mention of work in finishing the house is in Sept., 1761, when it was "Voted, to underpin the house and provide boards to lay a floor."
Roys says: "Their progress in building the meeting-house may be seen by the following statement: In 1759 they com- menced building the meeting-house, and in the course of the year (1760), raised and covered it. In 1761, underpinned and floored the lower part of it. In 1767, laid the gallery floor. In 1769, finished the lower part and made the pulpit.
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January 2, 1770, dignified and seated it. In 1771, finished the galleries and procured a cushion for the pulpit desk."
There is not in existence, so far as the writer knows, any description of the old meeting-house. We find that it was, according to the record, "forty feet wide and fifty feet long, a suitable height for gallering." Mr. Boyd gives a description of the interior of the meeting-house of the First Congregational Church in Winsted, built in 1800, (forty years nearly after the Norfolk house was built,) and being probably as near a description of the interior of the old house in this town as can now be obtained, I quote from it: "It was built, floored and covered in 1800, and was for the period when it was built the best propor- tioned and finished church edifice in the region. The in- terior was completed five years afterward, in a style of the then modern composite architecture. Its inner furnishing and adornment was picturesque. The body of the audience room was occupied by three aisles, with high-paneled, square pews of unpainted pine. The pulpit was an eight square tub, supported by a single pillar standing about ten feet high, and resembling an immense goblet. Narrow, rectangular stairs with elaborate railings, ascended from each end of the altar to half the height of the structure, and then turned toward each other and met at a two-and- a-half-foot platform in rear of the tub from which a door opened to receive the preacher, and on being closed a seat was turned down for him to sit on, and affording scant room for a companion to sit by his side. The crowning ap- pendage of this unique structure was an eight square wooden sounding board, suspended by a half inch square iron rod fastened in the arched ceiling. It resembled a woolen tassel attached to a frail cord incapable of sustain- ing it. It vibrated sensibly with every motion of the air, and fearfully when the windows were open and a thunder storm impending. This feature gave to the concern an element of the sublime which modified its fantastical char- acter, especially in the eyes of the youthful worshipers, whose fears of the demolition of the minister by the break-
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ing of the imaginary string were not altogether unrea- sonable. . . . A single row of singers' seats went around the entire front line of the gallery. . . . A narrow ele- vated alley ran in the rear of the singers' seats, and in the rear of this, on the sides of the house, were still more ele- vated pews, furnishing admirable places of concealed re- tirement for the boys and girls who chose to worship in a more cheerful way than their parents below would have approved. . . . The interior of the house retained its pris- tine form and adornments until 1828, when the pulpit, sounding board and all, was taken down, and a less pre- tentious but more convenient one built. . . . In the gal- lery the aristocratic front pews, and the devil-possessed side pews were removed."
They at an early day rose to the dignity of employing a janitor, as February 3, 1762, they "Voted to give Eben- ezer Burr, Jun., five shillings, to sweep the meeting-house and take care that the doors and windows are shut till the annual meeting next December."
For about seventy years people assembled in this town for divine worship on the Sabbath having no way of warm- ing the meeting-house or themselves, save by the little tin foot-stove that held less than a quart of burning coals from their open fires. People were then compelled by law to attend divine service on the Sabbath, so no one could ab- sent himself from this service simply because the day was cold. They had just a little relief in what were called "Sab- bath-day-houses" near the meeting-house, already mentioned by Dr. Eldridge. Several persons would unite and build a little log house, having a large fireplace, and when they arrived on Sabbath morning they would find a nice fire burning in this great open fireplace where they could warm themselves, and where the women could replenish their foot-stoves with burning coals from the hearth. At a town meeting held Dec. 1760, it was "voted that John Turner, Jedediah Richards, (and others,) have liberty to build a Sabbath-day house and horse houses, convenient for Sab- bath days, on the land purchased of Timothy Horsford to
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build a meeting-house on, to be let out at the discretion of the Selectmen. Voted the same liberty to any other of said town inhabitants."
People living near the meeting-house kept open house, many of them at least, during the one and a half hours be- tween the morning and afternoon services, and their friends and acquaintances were made welcome to warm them- selves by their glowing open fires, to eat their luncheons and replenish their foot-stoves. The "tavern" of Giles Pet- tibone, Jr., later the Shepard Hotel, is said to have been a favorite place for the men to congregate and spend their noon hour, while the women were made welcome and com- fortable at the homes of Esq. Battell, Dr. Roys, "Aunt Mol- lie Phelps," and others. It should be remembered that Sun- day Schools were not yet known, at this early period. In his "Centennial Discourse," 1876, Mr. Beach says: "The organization of the Sunday School also took place under Mr. Emerson. A persistent search has failed to reveal the date of its first establishment, or who were its early super- intendents. The most probable date is the period between 1822 and 1824."
"Dignifying" and seating the meeting-house when com- pleted, was evidently a delicate and difficult matter, in order to please everyone and displease no one. This too was done by the town. September, 1769, it was "Voted, that the town will proceed to have the meeting-house seated so soon as the seats in the lower part are finished." At the same meeting, "Voted, that the pew next to the pulpit on the north side shall be for Mr. A. R. Robbins' family to sit in." Also, "that we appoint a committee of seven to seat the meeting-house."
"Voted, that the rule for the seater shall be, that one year age shall be accounted equal to five pounds list." .
"Voted that the seaters shall dignify the seats as they shall think proper." "That the list given in in 1769 shall be the list for the seaters to go by."
At a meeting held in November of the same year it was "Put to vote whether the town will proceed to now seat
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the meeting-house. Passed in the negative." "Mr. Robbins appeared in the meeting and publicly gave up his right to his pew." At a meeting in December of that year they again appointed a committee of five, "to dignify the pews in the meeting-house," and also "Voted, that the meeting- house shall be seated."
After the second committees, appointed to "dignify" and to seat the house had reported, "the town voted not to con- firm the doings of the last seaters;" and also "voted that the doings of the former seaters shall stand." And so the matter was settled for that year. (These votes of the town are mentioned simply to give a glimpse of the ways and doings of the people of those early times.) I will close this chapter with a brief mention of the way means were pro- vided for meeting the expense of building this first house of worship, quoting again from Beach:
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